You might want to take a look at Average Scores submitted by JA+ V7 users. From this data, 80% is good. But make sure you still go through rest of the tests because all the test have some very important questions and explanations.

Also, check if your scores have been improving. i.e. if you scored 85% in the first test and 75% in the next or last, then you have more work to do. You should study the topics in which you score less from a book and then attempt the next test. Average is important, but increasing scores is more important because that show you are actually learning stuff.

Averaging 80% for the Enthuware exams is quite high. Make sure you do the rest of them and if you still score in that region, I would say that you would pass the Oracle exam. Just make sure you've gone through the questions that you didn't answer correctly to make sure that you understand them at least.

Read the reviews on Amazon. Same sentiment, low scores on Enthuware, high scores on actual exam.
Amazon review

Enthuware's exams are much harder than the actual certification exam. How else can they "guarantee" that you will pass?

It's the right approach for preparation but scared me initially. I took the first mock exam cold and did like a 60% but did not finish the entire exam in the allotted time (missed like 20 questions). Scared me enough to reschedule my exam date. Being a seasoned Java programmer, I had an aggressive schedule for passing the certification test. But then I found out the differences in Ethuware's scores and actual test results.

A couple of tips,
1) if a question takes longer than 2-3 minutes to answer, mark it for later. Some of the code snippets require mental tracing of the program which consumes time. Better to get the non-coding questions completed as quickly as possible, then go back to the time consuming coding questions.
2) many of the objective-wide practice tests are repeated in the mock exams. So it may be better idea to take the mock exams first when you think you are ready, otherwise you will be wasting them. After failing the first mock exam miserably, I studied the objective-wide tests and took the mock exams. Because I had seen a number of the questions already, I had the answers. I even finished one of the exams 45 minutes earlier. Rather than feeling good about myself, I felt I had cheated. Enthuware, you should consider creating more distinct questions for the mock exams.

But I can definitely say Enthuware is a must have resource for certification.

Paul Anilprem
Enthuware Software Support
Ranch Hand

Joined: Sep 23, 2000
Posts: 3527

9

posted Mar 09, 2013 05:10:47

0

Lap Wah Lee wrote: Enthuware, you should consider creating more distinct questions for the mock exams.

Hi Lap,
You will see repeated questions if you take objective wise as well as standard tests. These two categories are meant for different study strategies and should not be mixed. But the Standard Tests are mutually exclusive among themselves. BTW, the Question bank contains 540 distinct questions. Trust me, it is more than enough

But I can definitely say Enthuware is a must have resource for certification.

Thank you for your kind words. Glad to know our s/w was helpful in your preparation!

Thanks Paul. I actually did see the disclaimer about the last ("Unique") mock exam having only distinctly unique questions a couple of days ago. That one should definitely be taken last. But I concur, 540 distinct questions is plenty.

I just took the certification this morning. Passed 96%. I'm surprised I missed any of them. I was done with the exam in about 1 hour 30 minutes but stayed the full time to go over the entire exam.

To relate my experience, I was/am a seasoned Java programmer (financial field/enterprise Java) but who was on sabbatical from the coding for more than a year. I wanted the certifications to brush up on rusty skills. Initially I gave myself 3/4 weeks to prepare for the exam but added 2 more weeks because of my poor results with the first Enthuware mock exam. I probably would have passed with just the original 3/4 weeks of study but didn't know the difficulty level of the actual certification test since it's my first time being certified. But the extra time was important since it gave me the comfort level that I would pass. Psychologically I think it would have been bad for me to fail. I wanted to pass the FIRST time!

My Enthuware mock exam results
1. 59% FAILED (ran out of time, didn't do last 15 questions) . "Geez, I'm old, slow and stupid" 2. 81% PASSED "Yeah!, it's a better score than the average and I completed the marathon!" 3. 82% PASSED "Hmmm, I answered some of these questions in objective-wide tests" 4. 82% PASSED "ditto"
5. 80% PASSED "ditto. next exam is unique. day of reckoning. gotta do well"
6. 73% FAILED "Ughhh, well at least it wasn't too far from the average scores"

Now onto OCPJP, I think a month of study should suffice. Already bought Enthuware's exam!

Paul Anilprem wrote: Hi Lap,
You will see repeated questions if you take objective wise as well as standard tests. These two categories are meant for different study strategies and should not be mixed. But the Standard Tests are mutually exclusive among themselves. BTW, the Question bank contains 540 distinct questions. Trust me, it is more than enough

I just took the OCAJP7 exam for the first time and passed it scoring exactly 90%. I felt compelled to share my story with using Enthuware that help me get there. I had just finished reading cover-to-cover a Manning publication called "OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide" written by Mala Gupta. I would call myself a semi-seasoned Java programmer starting out with JDK 1.1 and remember using the first version of Jbuilder when it came out.

Anyway, Java has always been something I dabbled with on the side and decided I want to make it more a focus of my career. While reading Gupta's book, I realized how much I didn't know that I didn't know about Java -- BTW, I highly recommend this book! When done with it, I took the mock test at the end of the book and just barely passed it. On top of that, I timed myself and it took me 3 hours and realized I need more practice (last test I took was over 15 years ago). I found a reference to the Enthuware mock exams on the Ranch (thank you JavaRanch) and spent what I would say was the best $10 I have ever spent. I shouldn't say this but they should be charging more but then it was a discounted price. I hardly ever speak up on forums but I just felt I needed to for others that may benefit from my experience.

Here are some things about the exams I particularly wanted to point out.

Don't be discouraged if you don't pass them all as they are more difficult than the real exam. I took all 6 of them and didn't pass any of them. My scores:

T1: 60%
T2: 69%
T3: 63%
T4: 68%
T5: 68%
T6: 74%

Real Exam: 90%

VERY IMPORTANT: Do yourself a huge favor and go back over ALL questions and read through the well written explanations on not only the questions you missed but also the ones you got right. You might be surprised that you got a few questions right but only by a lucky guess or you thought it was because of X when it was really because of Y. Not to mention that the authors of these tests include some extra goodness in the explanation of the answers that gives you more overall depth of the problem. BTW, they used an awesome approach to this by repeating the entire question along with the answers and explanation, which really helps.

Also, for those questions that you either got wrong or guessed right, if there is a discussion about it, click the weblink to it and read what was said. I found a couple of them had some more insight, which certainly doesn't hurt.

Don't be discouraged if you don't complete them in the time allotted. I ran out of time an average of about 30 minutes. When I took the real exam, I finished with 10 minutes to spare and used that time to go over a couple that I had marked to take a second look at. I know one should skip and go back but I worried that I would run out of time so on a couple that I stalled on, I marked what I felt (guessed) and then marked it to come back to. That way if I ran out of time, I at least had attempted it. Not sure if that technique works for most people but it did for me.

Now off to the next level. I found ONE "Alpha" book that I purchased and downloaded last night published with Apress called "Oracle Certified Professional Java SE 7 Programmer Exams 1Z0-804 and 1Z0-805" by Ganesh and Sharma and of course I spent another $10 on the Enthuware exams that I know I will want to use for this

If you are traveling down this road. Good luck to you and remember, if it were easy it wouldn't feel as good when you succeed